I marched in good order to the fort, into which I entered on the 3rd of December at four in the afternoon, escorted by all the French and Assiniboines. We were led into the hut of the head chief. It was certainly large, but not enough to hold all who wished to enter. The crowd was so great that they crushed one another, Assiniboines and Mandans. There was only the place where we were, Mr. de la Marque, his brother and my children, free of them. I asked that the crowd should retire, to leave our Frenchmen clear, and to put their baggage in a place of safety, telling them they had all time to see us. Everyone was put out, but I had been too late. The bag of goods had been stolen, in which were all my presents, through the fault of one of the hired men, in whose care I had placed it before reaching the fort. He had unloaded on entering the hut without looking out for the bag, which he had put beside him in the great crowd. I felt rather confounded, my box lost, my bag of presents, which was very necessary for the place, and there were upwards of 300 livres inside. The Assiniboines seemed greatly annoyed and at once made a strict but useless search. Their fort is full of caves, well suited for concealment. The chief of the Mandans appeared to be greatly moved at my loss, and said for my consolation that there were many rascals among them. He would do his utmost to discover something about it. Had I accepted the offer of the Assiniboines I might have had it found in a little time by force, but I preferred to lose it and to make peace about everything, as I wanted to spend a part of the winter with them to get a knowledge of the more distant country.... ... The Assiniboines did not yet speak of leaving, although they had purchased all they were able to do, such as painted ox-robes, deerskin, dressed buck skin, and ornamented furs and feathers, painted feathers, and peltry, wrought garters, circlets for the head, girdles. These people dress leather better than any of the other nations, and work in furs and feathers very tastefully, which the Assiniboines are not capable of doing. They are cunning traders, cheating the Assiniboines of all they may possess, such as muskets, powder, balls, kettles, axes, knives or awls. Seeing the great consumption of food daily by the Assiniboines, and afraid that it would not last long, they set afloat a rumour that the Sioux were near and that several of their hunters had noticed them. The Assiniboines fell into the trap and made up their minds quickly to decamp, not wishing to be obliged to fight. 11. THE EXPULSION OF THE ACADIANS (1755). =Source.=--A letter sent by Charles Lawrence, Lieut.-Governor of Nova Scotia, to the Governors of the Colonies to which the Acadians were removed: printed in Thomas C. Haliburton's _Historical and Statistical Account of Nova Scotia_. Halifax, 1829. Halifax, Nova Scotia, 11th Aug., 1755. Sir,